Digital Equity Isn't Just about Tech - It's About Ensuring that Tech is Designed for All Learners

The SAMR Model by Dr. Rubin R. Puentedura is a helpful guide for teachers to use when thinking about their own technology use in the classroom. On its y-axis, the SAMR model breaks education technology into two parts: enhancement and transformation.

Classroom experiences are as diverse as our student population. Each category of the SAMR model: substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition, all contribute to important learning processes. So, it’s important to remember that not every single lesson that incorporates technology will be a redefinition lesson. We know, as educators, that we have to scaffold our instruction to help our students get to those higher-order thinking skills. As such, the SAMR model is no different.

For the purposes of understanding the SAMR model in a more concrete way, let’s take an elementary lesson on how to make a snowman using sequence words like first, next, then, and last. Instead of having students hand draw a picture of a snowman on a piece of paper, they can draw it on an iPad. This is substitution. Technology is taking the place of everyday classroom activities. In this case, the iPad replaces, or substitutes, for the paper.

Let’s take that same snowman lesson and augment its purpose, which is to get students to create a how-to. Before using technology, students cut up sequence words and then glued them under the corresponding snowman picture. Now, with the use of technology, students think about the process of drawing the snowman, record their process, listen to their recording, and then write out the steps.

The lesson is now augmented because the technology acted as a tool replacement but improved in its overall purpose. The students had to actively participate in the entire process instead of the majority of the work completed for them.

When modification occurs in a lesson, the technology allows for redesigned learning tasks. In our snowman lesson, instead of having students use the audio to help them write their how-to paragraph, they can now embed their audio recording into a presentation they created. Then, they add the text. The lesson is now modified because students are creating something to display as a type of portfolio.

Finally, the last and highest point in the SAMR model is redefinition, where the technology allowed for the creation of new tasks that were previously inconceivable. To redefine our snowman's how-to lesson, students can upload their presentations to an online platform where other students around the world can comment. This gives students authorship, reach, and tons of autonomy.

When we consider following a technology model, we provide greater access for our students. It requires us, as educators, to determine how technology aligns with our overall goals and objectives.

When we start to think of technology as more than a tool or a substitution for classroom tasks, students become active participants and digital creators. They start leaving a digital footprint of their learning. This is crucial if we are trying to empower students’ life chances.

Which is why following a technology model is so important in building digital equity for every kind of lesson. How can we create more equity for each level of the SAMR Model so that our students create, build, and redefine their learning? As we continue to refine our technology use in the classroom, we open a world of possibilities for our students.